Process of unhairing skins and transferring fur, feathers, hair, &amp;c., to artificial backings.



UNITED STATES PATENT rnrcno JOSEPH AUGUSTIN MALAISE, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

PROCESS OF UNHAIRING SKINS AND TRANSFERRING FUR, FEATHERS, HAIR, &c., T0 ARTIFICIAL BACKINGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 639,075, dated December 12, 1899.

Application filed February 18, 1899- Serial No. 705,971. (No specimens.)

T0 ctZZ "whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH AUGUSTIN MA- LAlsn'i, of 45 Avenue de la Rpublique, in the city of Paris, Republic of France, have invented an Improved Process for Unhairing Skins and Transferring Fur, Feathers, Hair, and the Like to Artificial Backings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact de scription.

This invention relates to a new and improved process for unhairing all kinds of skins without injuring the grain side thereof and also for transferring the fur, feathers, hair, bristles, wool, dcc. to artificial backings.

The hitherto-employed methods for unhairing skins have been objectionable, because with such methods the hair is very often incompletely taken off, while the depilatory medium being immediately in contact with the grain side the latter, which constitutes the finest part of the leather, becomes injured and loses its fineness.

My improved unhairing process has for its object to entirely set aside these disadvantages and comprises the following operations: All the hairs, feathers, and the like are treated with a solution forming a solid coat, in which all the hairs, feathers, &c., are held.

-This solution may consist of sodium sulfate.

When the solid coat is formed, I apply to the.

skin on the flesh side a depilatory paste of of special composition. This paste or cream consists of a mixture of a solution of sul'fydrate of sodium whose titration is lowered by the addition of water to 5 or 8 Baum, according to the nature of the skins to be treated, and of quicklime powdered by sprinkling of a certain proportion of water. The sulfydrate of sodium is mixed with the lime only when the latter has previously been reduced into powder. I thus obtain a pasty mixture which can remain on the skin and whose active power is sufficient for taking off the hair from the skin without injuring in any way the grain side of the latter. The pasty solution thus applied on the skin passes through the same and acts upon the root of the hair without injuring the grain side of the skin, so that the mass of hairs, feathers, and the like confined in the sulfate of sodium may be readily stripped off. The skin, thus deprived of the fur, is then ready to receive any in dustrial application after having been subjected to the ordinary tanning operations. This depilatory paste possesses a very great advantage, as it enables me to strip off all the hair, (hair, down, &c.,) and thus to use certain kinds of skins which have been hitherto incapable of anyindustrialapplication. Furthermore, with my process the unhairing proceeds more rapidly than with any other means. After the hairs have been stripped off 'the roots thereof arecovered with one or more coats of acaoutchouc solution in order to retain all these hairs. This for can then be directly applied to a fabric such as cloth, silk, &c., it being sufficient to apply to the caoutchouc surface retaining the hairs a thin coat of a medium for dissolving the caoutchouc in order to obtain a perfect adhesion of the caoutchouc upon the part intended to receive the fur. This part may even be impregnated with a caoutchouc solution. plication has been effected the caoutchouc is vulcanized by any suitable means, so as to obtain a perfect adhesion of the hair. This vulcanization will be effected according to After such apany convenient method-for example, in the I following manner: The objects will be hung in a hermetically-closed chamber whose internal temperature is carried to about and into which vapors of chlorid of sulfur are led. The latter acting upon the caoutchouc will entirely vulcanize the same. The for may also be applied upon an artificial backing consisting of any flexible fabric, such as an unsized or undressed cotton material. The external face of the backing will also be covered with a coat of caoutchouc in such a manner that at the end of the process it will be entirely embedded in the caoutchouc. The fur being thus fixed either im inediately on the fabric or on the artificial ployed as fursuch as calf-hair, for exampleand also'to dye such hair in any color. Furthermore, the fur thus obtained presents a perfect impermeability and may be employed for numerous purposes.

My process also relates to natural furs treated according to the usual furriery'processes the hair of which does not adhere to the skin for any reasonfor example, when the. mites attack the roots of the hair. Under these circumstances the skin hearing such fur is previously untanned according to wellknown processes, and the hair is then stripped off and transferred to an artificial backing, according to above-specified means. A fur of any size composed of different pieces matched and put together may thus be transferred to an artificial backing in one piece. The fur thus transferred has the same appearance and is arranged as the previous natural fur. a

By means of my new process I can obtain furs of very large size either by directly trans ferring the hairs to a large surface of prepared fabric, as before described, or by putting together a certain number of furstransferred to an artificial backing, as above described.

My improved process enables me also to make a new kind of artificial fur having hairs on both faces. This new kind of fur, there fore, consists of a backing of fabric embedded in caoutchouc and upon both faces of which are fixed the hairs removed from their skin,

as hereinbefore described. This new kind of fur may also be obtained by omitting the fabric,Whereby both coatings of caoutchouc holding the hairs are immediately connected together.

My process not only relates to the transfer of hairs, but also to the transfer of feathers, bristles, and the like and generally of all kinds of dermic matters.

I claim The process of removing feathers, hairs and the like from skins, which consists'first in applying to the hair side of the skin, a coating of a substance to hold the hairs; second, in applying to the flesh side of the skin, a substance serving to penetrate the skin to facilitate removal of the hairs; third, in removing the hairs from the skin; fourth in coating the roots with rubber; fifth, in embeddinga backing in rubber; sixth, in connecting said backing with the rubber-coated face of the sub stance holding-the hairs; and last in removing the substance in which the hairs are embedded.

The foregoing specification of my improved process for unhairing skins and transferring fur, feathers, hairs, and the; like to artificial backings signed by me this 3dday 0f February, 1899.

JOSEPH AUGUSTIN MALAISE. 

